In general, a fuel cell vehicle equipped with a fuel cell system uses fuel cell stacks to produce electricity with hydrogen and drives by powering an electric motor using the electricity produced.
The fuel cell vehicle includes a fuel cell stack which triggers an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to produce electrical energy; fuel-feeding system which feeds hydrogen to the fuel cell stack; an oxygen-feeding system including a blower, and an air valve, which feeds oxygen required for the electrochemical reaction, to the fuel cell stack; and a cooling system cooling the heat generated from the fuel cell stack to maintain a constant temperature.
At sub-zero temperature, in the fuel cell vehicle according to the related art, cooling water and fuel in the fuel cell stack freezes, causing an error in the operation of the fuel cell system.
The fuel cell stack can be activated and drive the vehicle when the stack is heated to an operation temperature. It takes a long time to raise the temperature of the fuel cell stack in sub-zero temperatures.
In winter, when a driver tries to immediately raise the low internal temperature of a vehicle by operating a heater, it is difficult to generate warm air until the fuel cell stack, and cooling water are heated to the operation temperature.
Thus, there needs to be an improvement in a fuel cell vehicle with a technique capable of immediately providing warm air to occupants of the vehicle and shortening cold start time, even in sub-zero temperatures, such as in winter, thereby improving heating performance and cold startability.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and is not intended to mean that the present disclosure falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.